Climate activists criticise Pakistani influencer for ‘setting fire’ to forest for TikTok video
Environment campaigners have raised the alarm after an influencer from Pakistan reportedly posed for a TikTok video in front of a raging forest fire.
The creator, @DollyOfficiall, is alleged to have shared the video with her 11 million TikTok followers.
The clip, which was in violation of the social media platform’s community guidelines, has since been deleted.
It showed Dolly dressed in a long silver dress, walking through a part of Margalla Hills National Park in Islamabad with the orange glow of the burning landscape visible behind her.
Sharing the video on Twitter, Rina Satti, chair of Islamabad’s Wildlife Management Board, said the video was part of a “disturbing and disastrous trend” on TikTok.
“Young people desperate for followers are setting fire to our forests during this hot and dry season!” Satti said.
Islamabad Police have now registered a case against Dolly after a complaint was filed by Ijaz ul Hassan, the deputy director of the Islamabad Capital Development Authority, which oversees the maintenance of the city.
According to a first information report obtained by Pakistani newspaper The News International, Dolly is accused of deliberately starting the fire before filming the video.
“The area is part of Margalla Hills National Park which has reported multiple incidents of wildfires recently which damaged the ecosystem,” the report said.
Satti said the fire was likely to cause harm to wildlife or damage their habitats.
“It is breeding season for birds in Margalla’s right now and their ground nests destroyed by fire, can’t even escape!” she wrote in a tweet.
In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson for TikTok said: “Any content that promotes dangerous or illegal behavior would be a violation of our Community Guidelines and is not allowed on our platform.
“We work to either remove, limit or label content that depicts dangerous or illegal acts.
“We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and encourage everyone to exercise caution and responsibility in their behavior whether online or off.”
The incident comes just weeks after Pakistani media reported that a man had been arrested in Abbottabad, a city in the province of province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for deliberately setting fire to a portion of a forest to make a TikTok video.
Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable country to the climate crisis, according to the 2020 Global Climate Risk Index, published by NGO Germanwatch.
The country is currently experiencing an extreme heatwave, with some parts of the country reaching temperatures of 50 degrees celcius.
In a bid to combat the effects of the climate crisis, the country has launched a Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Project.
In partnership with United Nations Environment Programme, the initiative aims to plant ten billion trees in the country by 2023.
The Independent has contacted @Dollyofficiall for comment.
